"Undecided" Leads in Treasurer's Race

“Probably the majority of the electorate doesn’t even know the new state Treasurer will be selected on October 14th,” says Jeremy Alford of lapolitics.com.

The usual indicators of an imminent election aren’t there. Yard signs for local church fall fairs are more prevalent than those for the candidates. Campaign ads on TV have been rare.

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Instead, they pop up when you’re browsing the web.

“I learned very, very young that you live within your means,” Republican John Schroder says, in his five-minute long video.

Democrat Derrick Edwards shows his NBC “Today Show” profile, shot in May 2016, before talking about his campaign platform for Treasurer: “We must stop cuts in education, healthcare, and wasteful government spending.”

“Neil Riser will fight for drainage and infrastructure to be top priorities in the state budget,” says the northeast Louisiana state senator’s ad, which includes video of hurricanes and flooding.

Fellow Republican Angele Davis, who formerly served as Governor Bobby Jindal’s Commissioner of Administration, has an ad focusing on traffic. It promises “Angele Davis will work with President Trump to build highways, roads and bridges in Louisiana.”

But as many -- including Alford – have noted, none of that is really part of the Treasurer’s job.

“Right now, the challenge for all the candidates running for Treasurer is just to get the attention of voters,” Alford says. “And that’s a reason why we’re hearing them talk about taxes, and Donald Trump, and things that have nothing to do with the office.”

Yet one thing the Treasurer can do is invest the state’s money, but…

“Making wise investments doesn’t make for sexy politics.”

Yet, Alford also observes, this isn’t a sexy race.

“State Treasurer is just not a race that’s going to ignite the electorate, or capture the imagination of the average voter.”

The most recent poll, commissioned by one of the candidates and released Tuesday, shows the three Republicans and one Democrat all have a very long way to go in the next three-and-a-half weeks – with “undecided” polling at 45 percent.